Pitching to Homeland Security for Border Control

The New York Times, Friday, June 7,2013

As Wars End, Firms Chase Dollars Spent on the Border:

Compete to Strengthen Surveillance Near Mexico, by Eric Lipton

Tucson–“The nation’s largest military contractors, facing federal budget cuts and the withdrawals from two wars, are turning their sights to the Mexican border in the hopes of collecting some of the billions of dollars expected to be spent on tighter security if immigration legislation becomes law.

Half a dozen major military contractors, including Ratheon, Lockheed Martin and Genreral Dynamics, are preparing for an unusual desert showdown here this summer, demonstrating their military-grade radar and long-range camera systems in an effort to secure a Homeland Security Department contract worth as much as $1 billion.

Northrup Grumman, meanwhile, is pitching to Homeland Security officials an automated tracking device–first built for the Pentagon to find roadside bombs in Afghanistan–that could be mounted on aerial drones to find illegal border crossers. And General Atomics, which manufactures the reconnaissance drones, wants to double the size of the fleet under a recently awarded contract worth up to $443 million…

Department officials said their choices would be driven by a determination of what the best available tools were for securing the border, not what the defense contractors or their lobbyists were pitching. Customs and Border Protection officials, said Michael J. Friel, a department spokesman in a statement, are “dedicated to continuing this progress towards a safer, stronger and more secure border.”

Pitching is a sports term from American baseball. To see some other sentences using pitcher, the player who pitches the ball, and pitching, please go to http://www.sportsidioms. com.